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2024-03-31-annual-report

Holywood Shared Town

Annual Report

For the year from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024

Holywood Shared Town is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in Northern Ireland and a registered charity. Its company number is NI 617275, charity reference number NIC 101962 and HMRC charity number NI 00159.

The registered office is[c] /o 3 Bangor Road, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 0NT.

During the year the directors were: Simon Bridge

Helen Dolk Tim Kerr Bill Lockhart Lauren Kendall (resigned 19 March 2024) Nicola Murphy (resigned 19 March 2024) Kim Addis Rachel Woods (appointed 19 March 2024)

INTRODUCTION

Purpose Vision and Core Objective

Purpose : to forge and build mutually supportive working relationships between the many organisations, groups, businesses and individuals in the Holywood area; to encourage and enable these groups and individuals to work together, and to undertake initiatives and activities with the overall ambition of creating and sustaining a cohesive, shared community that reflects and celebrates the growing diversity in the Holywood area.

Vision : to build within Holywood and the surrounding area the relationships and ‘social capital’ that helps individuals and local groups work more effectively for the benefit of everyone living and working in the Holywood area - and thereby achieve our core objective.

Objective : our core charitable objective is the continuous development of Holywood as a town that:

Our Methods include:

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  1. Facilitating and participating in initiatives that build relationships with other relevant groups

  2. Undertaking projects both in our own name and in partnership with other groups that share our vision and objectives

  3. Acting as an ‘umbrella’ organisation for groups that would otherwise be unable to operate

There were several changes to the trustees during the year including the resignations of Nicola Murphy and Lauren Kendall and the appointment of Rachel Woods, all on 19 March 2024. In February 2024 we updated our Articles of Association to rationalise and simplify the categories of membership.

INITIATIVES UNDERTAKEN

The initiatives undertaken and/or supported during 2023-4 were split between:

  1. Activities (through our activity membership scheme); and

  2. Projects

• Activity membership . Holywood Shared Town’s ‘activity’ members are groups of individuals that come together to undertake a specific activity or purpose under the umbrella of, and supported by, Holywood Shared Town. In 2023-4 we supported Holywood Men’s Shed , Patchwork (a local sewing group), the Fencing Club and Holywood Resettlement Group.

• Project Activity . Holywood Shared Town undertook a number of projects in its own name (or under the Holywood Men’s Shed banner) to enhance the wellbeing and quality of life of individuals living or working in the Holywood area and/or to develop and enhance the amenity of the town and surrounding area – particularly cultural and environmental activity.

Cultural activities. Holywood Shared Town continues to put a high value on the role of creative activity as an important component within its strategic objectives. Whilst we do produce events across the year with talks and music events, for example, our largest undertaking is throughout the month of March with the Creative Holywood Festival .

Environmental activities. We continued to work on initiatives for the restoration and use of Dunville Community Garden at Redburn County Park and the nearby Fiddle Field . Holywood Men’s Shed also undertook and supported a range of initiatives to encourage the conservation, appreciation and use of Redburn County Park. We also facilitated the walking for health group and supported the development of eco-clubs in local schools.

ACTIVITY MEMBER GROUPS: FACILITATING GROUP ACTIVITY

Holywood Men’s Shed

The Men’s Shed had a busy year with a full programme of activities and visits. Membership continued to grow and the Men’s Shed were able to open the shed 7 days a week to facilitate a range of activities, chief of which remains various forms of wood working and recycling wood to make garden benches, tables, mud kitchens and similar. The busy arts and craft shed, where a number of members demonstrate their creative skills producing a range of products, such as stained glass items, paintings and restoring old lamps, continued to thrive. The gardening group made full use of the polytunnel with the help of an “ In Bloom ” grant from Ards and North Down Borough Council which allowed the Men’s Shed to gift plants to local schools, nursing homes, housing associations, churches and pensioners.

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The work, undertaken by specialist contractors on behalf of NIEA, restoring the back wall of the Stable Yard was completed in Spring 2023. This created a lot of extra space for outdoor working and much needed storage. Members erected covered structures to protect these spaces from the weather and allow us to install outside plug sockets to drive power machinery which previously would have had to be used in confined indoor sheds. They were also able to buy new power tools and replace worn hand tools and safety equipment.

They had a regular programme of events at the base in the Stable Yard at Redburn County Park. A highlight of the year was a family-oriented Coronation Lunch in lovely weather in May funded by Ards and North Down Borough Council. This was very well supported by the local community and everyone had a great time with plenty to eat and activities, such as outdoor games and a circus school.

Coronation Lunch at the Men’s Shed

They took their, now traditional, stall at the annual May Day Fair in Holywood to showcase their work and to fundraise to help pay for running costs by selling items made by members and plants grown at the shed. At the end of June 2023, with the support of funding from Habinteg Housing Association, they ran a free “Health and Wellbeing Day” for the local community. They had a range of stalls and workshops including Tai Chi, yoga, health checks, and for home and community safety. Thanks is extended to Habinteg for providing both funding and healthy free food for this event.

During July/August 2023 in partnership with the Conservation Volunteers (TCV) and the Dunville Heritage Community Garden, they ran a Conservation Camp for older teenagers from Holywood Youth Centre. It was great to see children from refugee and asylum-seeking families join in the weekly sessions. This helps these young people integrate with local teenagers. They are indebted to Social Farms and Gardens for funding the Conservation Camp.

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Health and Wellbeing Fair June 23

Other events included an apple picking day at Crawfordsburn Country Park, a Christmas Wreath Making Workshop facilitated by TCV and an excellent, well attended Christmas lunch at Shorts Social Club.

As well as events at base, they had a programme of visits to and from other Men’s Sheds throughout the year. These included visits from Gortnamonagh Men’s Shed, Black Mountain Men’s Group and Kilkeel Men’s Shed. Holywood Men’s Shed, in turn, visited the ARK Men’s Shed in Newcastle, Rostrevor Men’s Shed and Cloughmills Men’s Shed. These visits turn out to be great social events and amazing learning opportunities as members share their experiences and “tricks of the trade”. The hospitality is always mighty.

Mud kitchens made by Holywood Men’s Shed

Financially Men’s Shed consolidated their position and ended the year with a healthy £7k plus in the bank. This is in no short measure due a very generous donation of more than £3k from the Knocknagoney Knights Men’s Group and more than £2k from the Dublin based Sceptre Foundation. They also received a donation from John Gray and Sons for arts and craft equipment and, of course, many very generous donations from the public both in cash and kind. They are most grateful for the many people who support our work in all sorts of ways and would like to thank them most sincerely. This in turn allows us to support initiatives in the local community and undertake work for local schools, such making equipment for their eco clubs and donation of plants and help other charities and care homes.

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Holywood Resettlement Group

Having met the requirements to sponsor an Afghan refugee family under the Home Office’s “Community Sponsorship” scheme, the Holywood Resettlement Group were delighted to learn in February 2023 that they had been referred a family of five, an Afghan family residing in Iran with a likely arrival date of May/June. It was all hands on deck over April/May to get everything in order for their arrival. While the group were incredibly fortunate to have been offered a house to rent within easy reach of local amenities (by a flexible landlord) they had to find school places, final items of furniture for the house, summer schemes for the children, translation services and more at short notice. Luckily the army of volunteers, supporters and friends rallied round to get everything ready in time and to make the house warm and welcoming for the family.

The family finally arrived in Northern Ireland on 7 June 2023 to glorious sunshine after a long and tiring journey via Qatar and London. One of the Group volunteered to cook a welcome meal for their first evening which was greatly appreciated by the family. They then had another busy few months getting the family settled into their new home, started in school, helped to get school uniforms, helped to open a bank account, registered with doctors, dentists etc, enrolled for English lessons and helped to find their way around Holywood and Belfast. The first few months were a steep learning curve for the group and a culture shock for the family as they adjusted to their new life in Holywood.

As the months went on, they were more and more impressed by the positive ‘can do’ attitude shown by the family and their determination to make a success of life here in Northern Ireland. Both the children and mum have risen to every challenge and accepted every opportunity offered to them by the local community. The boys both enjoy sports and tried out football, rugby and cricket. The girls are keen dancers and gymnasts. The group have been amazed (and impressed) at the speed at which the family’s English has improved since their arrival and their increasing confidence in using public transport for outings to Belfast and further afield. They particularly enjoy the beach and playpark at Seapark. The family have also made friends and built up a support network, including amongst the refugee and asylum seeker community in Northern Ireland.

The group were delighted to learn from the Home Office that the family included the 1000[th] refugee brought to the UK under the Community Resettlement Scheme.

The group has found that their lives have been enriched by the experience of getting to know a family from a different culture and our involvement with other local refugees and asylum seekers. They would like to thank everyone in the Holywood community who has reached out with offers of support, found spaces for the children at local clubs and generally made the family feel safe and welcome. They get regular feedback from mum (and Reset, the charity overseeing community sponsorship) as to how much she appreciates everything the local community has done and how settled and happy the family feels in Holywood.

Our affiliation with Holywood Shared Town remains important, and we have continued to work with them on activities with the Creative Holywood arts activity and their “Green Spaces” initiative.

Holywood Shared Town is the NI member of the Community Sponsorship Alliance, working to promote Community Sponsorship across the UK, and helped organise an event held at the House of Commons in September 2023 attended by our project manager.

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The Fencing Club

The Fencing Club ran nine two-hour coaching sessions over the school holidays when the local school hall was not available for practice. Numbers continued to grow reaching 27 and requiring the appointment of a second coach. Average attendance at each coaching session was 15. The club enables local junior fencers to practice, retain fitness and maintain a competitive edge throughout the fencing competing season. As a result of this on-going access to coaching and a space to practice, a number of fencers have successfully competed in competitions outside Northern Ireland in Ireland and Great Britain.

Patchwork

Patchwork sewing circle continued to meet throughout the year every Thursday between September and May. There are currently seven full time members who enjoyed undertaking a variety of sewing projects under guidance.

Holywood Shared Town’s on-going facilitation of these classes is hugely important in combatting isolation and loneliness felt by more isolated elderly members of our community. When asked what they gain from the weekly classes, participants responded:

“ friendship ” and “ a place to socialise and be creative ”.

Class members come together to share ideas and learn new skills. For two hours a week they can forget their problems and spend time together doing something they love.

PROJECT ACTIVITY: ENHANCING HOLYWOOD

Creative Holywood: a programme of creative and cultural activity

Creative Holywood Festival

This year the Creative Holywood Festival mounted 11 events which spanned a range of artforms. They included contemporary dance, classical music, jazz, and literature, as well as two artists-in-residence who ran a series of workshops in writing, visual art, and music. Nearly 150 participants took part in the festival and over 1,000 residents and others attended the events.

The festival opened with ‘ An Evening of Dance’ , curated by two of NI’s young rising dance artists, Michael McEvoy and Clara Kerr. They brought together a wonderfully diverse programme that included two new pieces with renowned musician Joshua Burnside; the Aisling School of Irish Dance; Nabanita Chatterjee & Kuhumita Dakar performing an Indian dance piece; street dance artist Rhys Devlin aka Kid Noise; and the premiere of Silver Linings , commissioned by Macmillan Cancer Support, with composer Keith Acheson, and the Sing for Life Choir.

Some of the music highlights included Bach’s majestic St John Passion , performed by the Ulster Consort (conductor Matthew Owens) with soloists Jeremy Budd and William Gaunt. They were accompanied by a band of some of the leading period instrumentalists in Europe.

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Chris Blake, the former Ulster Orchestra principal oboe, teamed up with Anna Gregg, soprano, and a trio of string players from the UO for a performance that included Mozart, Vaughan Williams and Holst.

The festival also hosted some Sunday morning blues with the formidable Ronnie Greer, Ken Haddock and John McCullough; a concert of world music with an array of musicians from across the globe; and the extraordinary talents of gypsy jazz aficionados, Belleville.

Sunday Blues at Holywood Yacht Club

Added to this the festival also enjoyed two ‘In Conversation’ events, welcoming the prominent journalist Eamonn Mallie who talked about his new memoir " Eye Witness to War and Peace " with Brian Rowen, former BBC political correspondent. In addition, the wind energy pioneer, Andrew Garrad (recipient of the 2024 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering) talked about his 45 years in the wind energy industry.

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In Conversation with Eamonn Mallie
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This year’s artists-in-residence were the poet Maria McManus and composer Keith Acheson. They led a series of workshops in primary schools and community groups which culminated in a showcase event as a finale to the festival.

Creative Holywood placed great importance on the high artistic quality of the programme. The continuing sell-out audiences for the festival illustrates the demand and appreciation for top level cultural activity which brings an energetic buzz to the town in early Spring. The festival’s programmed events featured local artists, as well as those from diverse backgrounds to encourage community involvement and community relations. This year also saw an increase number of volunteers who helped with the festival - having a planned rota per event, which

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created a balanced involvement of local people ‘learning the ropes’ of different aspects of event management and customer relations, box office, etc.

The festival is promoted to all members of our community and this year received additional support to enable it to run some free events. With the help of our funders, the festival was able to target those amongst the most deprived within our community and ring-fence places for them.

The festival and our other creative activities could not happen without the valuable support from a number of very important funders. These include Ards & North Down Borough Council; the Arts Council of NI; the Holywood Chamber of Commerce; Woven Housing Association; the Department for Communities; the BUPA Foundation; and Johnsons Coffee. Creative Holywood are immensely grateful for their continued support.

Heritage and Environmental Activities - Green Spaces

Helping the community to:

During the year Holywood Shared Town continued to work on a number of projects under our ‘Green Spaces’ initiative which aims to engage the community in physical conservation and environmental programmes as well as helping to develop, care for, and increase people’s use and enjoyment of Holywood’s historic and natural heritage.

The Dunville Heritage Community Garden

This garden situated in Redburn Country Park behind the Holywood Men’s Shed has been the focus of Holywood Shared Town’s Green Spaces Initiative. This is in collaboration with The Conservation Volunteers (TCV). This collaboration is now in its second year and has been immensely valuable. It has enabled progress on the project at a much greater pace than otherwise could have been managed and helped with expertise in horticulture and biodiversity, ground preparation and installation of raised beds, seed sowing and planting, the running of the green gyms programme, as well as guidance in the sourcing of supplies, and event management. Over 2023-4 much work was undertaken in partially restoring the old Dunville family kitchen garden and a start was made on part of the pleasure garden.

Dunville Heritage Garden - the early days

This has come about not only through the tireless energy and commitment of the small team who steer the different elements of the programme, but also through the growing number of volunteers from the local community who are at the heart of our work and who have become the bedrock of the advances across the year.

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A series of events were run over the year at the garden. These included a Christmas wreath making workshop, a bird watch and recognition event for families, British Science Week at which local people and children were encouraged to bring soil samples from their gardens to have them expertly analysed, and a plant and seed swapping and plant and grow event. In cooperation with Holywood Men’s Shed, the Conservation Camp for older teenagers from Holywood Youth Centre was held. All the events were well attended with positive feedback from participants.

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Conservation Camp – Summer 2023
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The programme of twice-weekly “green gyms” continued to go from strength to strength with 194 sessions taking place between 1[st] April 2022 and 30th June 2024. These sessions provide real value to the wellbeing of local residents and families from all backgrounds and abilities. Not only do the sessions offer the opportunity to learn about multiple aspects of sustainable growing, they also provide outdoor physical exercise and a chance to socialise while having fun. Equally importantly, they maintain and develop the garden. A summary table of the numbers of sessions held at Dunville Garden from May 2023 to June 2024 is below:

Table 1: Dunville Garden activity sessions and attendees

Volunteer Impact

A deliberate point is made of ‘checking in’ with volunteers, conversationally and in written feedback. This enables monitoring and evaluating progress to take place, and provides an opportunity to respond to suggestions and requests made by those on the ground. It provides a ‘yardstick’ by which effectiveness and difference that the project is making to be known. A snapshot of some of the feedback includes:

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Some comments from volunteers are below:

“An excellent project | I’ve learned a lot | Lovely people involved | Excellent support for the diversity of volunteers, taking on everyone’s views on tasks and plans for the garden | Great fun too! | Wonderful people, wonderful experience | I cannot fault anything at this project. It has had a positive impact on me, and I enjoy every aspect of being part of this group”

Across this year, the groups have been particularly pleased with the work in attracting the involvement of asylum seekers and refugees from our community. The support from the National Lottery has given leverage to access funding from Ards and North Down Borough Council to assist with transport costs and catering for this group of volunteers. Although sadly their residence in Holywood tends to be transient and unpredictable, there has been a successful establishment of a core of volunteers who regularly attend the garden (including one family who now travel from Belfast to keep up their participation).

A “thank you” dinner was held in Holywood Yacht Club in December 2023 to recognise the contribution of our volunteers, partners, funders and all who have helped throughout the year.

Thank You meal in Holywood Yacht Club December 2023

Another positive outcome from the collaboration with TCV was the successful bid to receive Dept. for Communities funding that enabled the development of Eco Clubs with local primary schools. Over 2023-4, a five-week programme in each of our four local schools was completed. This involved the construction of raised beds, planting fruit and vegetables, teaching students about soil fertility, propagation, and caring for nature and our environment. They have been hugely welcomed and appreciated by the schools and their pupils. The programme culminated in a half day visit by all the schools together at Dunville Garden where amongst other things, the bug hunt and building of bug hotels proved a real hit!

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Primary school Eco Club visits the Dunville Garden

The development of Dunville Heritage Community Garden has also led to other ‘unforeseen’ benefits. For example, the provision of garden keys to two local care homes so that they can have access and provide a calm and beautiful place for their residents’ respite and enjoyment. Flowers grown and produced in the garden have been showcased at the local railway station, local social housing and pensioner housing units, as well as in four local schools.

We are indebted to our various funders who have helped make all this possible: this includes the Ards and North Down Borough Council and its “In Bloom” scheme, Social Farms and Gardens for funding the summer Conservation Camp, Woven Housing Association TBUC scheme for its help with a number of our family and community events, Groundwork/BUPA award which sponsored events such as the Thank You meal which had over 60 attendees. The wider community have also benefited – particularly those living in the nearby housing estates.

Finally, thanks is given to the local community who have been involved in and supported the development of the garden. They have shown a lot of interest and come along with gifts of plants and items for use in the garden.

Fiddle Field Community Growing Initiative

Progress on our community growing initiative at Fiddle Field was largely on hold as we awaited planning permission from Ards and North Down Borough Council.

OTHER ACTIONS:

Walking for Health Group

With support from the Health Development Department of the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, the Walking for Health group has continued. The group meets at the Maypole Bar corner in High Street in Holywood at 11am each Wednesday morning. The walk uses varied routes and lasts for about an hour. After that, group members have the option of going for a cup of coffee together. People of all backgrounds and abilities are welcome to join. The group regularly post on social media to encourage new members to join them.

Hardship Response Initiative

Holywood Shared Town were successful in obtaining a ‘hardship fund’ grant from Ards and North Down Borough Council which allowed the roll out of initiatives to support members of our local community most directly impacted by the on-going cost of living crisis both through

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the immediate provision of fuel and food vouchers and through the delivery of educational support for locally grown food and cooking. In this way, Shared Town are supporting the longer-term, sustainable, alleviation of food poverty and strengthening our community’s food security in line with our objectives and strategy.

In total,1,286 individuals were helped directly either with fuel and food vouchers (distributed through St Vincent de Paul and Centra) or through food provided to local after-school clubs, over 55 clubs or the provision of school eco clubs/cookery workshops and further 288 individuals in those households benefited indirectly.

Liaison activities

Holywood Shared Town continued to play its part in wider groupings affecting future developments in Holywood. It participated in the Holywood Town Advisory Group, which continued to be convened by Ards and North Down Borough Council with the Chair sitting as a community member. Shared Town Directors also participated in community consultations, specifically over the future of Queen’s Hall in Holywood and worked with locally elected representatives in the Council on a number of matters relating to the need for community use of the asset.

MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS AND BENEFIT DELIVERED

The activity reports demonstrate not only what Holywood Shared Town did during the year but also why . The main achievement throughout the year has been to continue to develop and enhance our contribution to Holywood, and the surrounding area, in accordance with our purpose and vision.

The following table demonstrates how our key activities over 2023-4 contributed to Holywood Shared Town’s objectives and helped the group to continue to deliver public benefit in line with our stated objects, as follows:

HST’s objectives The year’s activities – and their contributions
A safe and welcoming place for
people to live, learn, work,
socialise, raise children and do
business		 Holywood Shared Town’s various activities have delivered a
variety of community benefits. The Men’s Shed outreach work
has continued to build community links, Patchwork has
continued to provide social interaction and interest for people
who might otherwise feel isolated and the Resettlement Group
welcomed an Afghan refugee family into the community.
A place that is inclusive and
celebrates our community’s
increasing diversity		 ‘Creative Holywood’ ran a series of cultural to promote
inclusivity and understanding.Our ‘Green Spaces’ initiative
welcomes everyone in our community and gives refugees and
asylum seekers an opportunity to engage with nature and
interact with each other and the community. The Resettlement
Group expanded its links with and support for local refugees
and asylum seekers
A place with a vibrant cultural
scene and pride in its heritage		 Holywood Shared Town continues to programme a calendar of
arts events and activities. The Creative Holywood Festival in
March brings a range of events that this year drew full houses.
The work on Dunville Heritage Community Garden (and Fiddle
Field), alongside the walking group, has continued to highlight
and to stimulate the maintenance and enjoyment of
Holywood’s green spaces.

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A place that promotes
sustainable practices that
enhance both individual health
and wellbeing and the
environment		 Projects such as those of the Men’s Shed, operating from the
old stable yard at Redburn, the on-going work on the Dunville
Garden, the Fiddle Field ‘community growing’ initiative, the
Green Gyms ,Holywood walks, our summer conservation club
for local teenagers, support for eco clubs in local schools and
other initiatives have all helped to promote sustainable
practices.
We participated in ANDBC’s Hardship Response Initiative
which allowed us to directly assist 1286 members of our local
community impacted by the on-going cost of living crisis and
indirectly supported a further 288 members of their households
through a variety of supports with food and fuel poverty.

ACCOUNTS AND RESERVES POLICY

Holywood Shared Town’s accounts for the year are attached which show the charity’s financial position.

At the end of the year, the charity had funds of £33,115.51. Of this £7,506.94 were restricted funds i.e. reserved for specific activities, having been raised for those purposes, leaving unrestricted funds of £25.608.57 available for general charitable activities.

HST’s policy is to ensure that it at all times holds sufficient unrestricted funds to cover contingencies such as having to wind up or dissolve the company. As outstanding liabilities at year end were minimal (and were covered by grant funding) and no staff with redundancy commitments or outgoings in relation to premises, its obligations in such an eventuality would be minimal.

Holywood Shared Town wishes to extend its sincerest thanks to the Treasurer for the significant workload in dealing with the accounts.

GOVERNANCE AND FUTURE PLANS

Holywood Shared Town’s Board of Directors confirms that in its governance of the company it has had due regard to the Commission’s guidance and its public benefit requirement.

The Board also confirms that Holywood Shared Town’s future plans are to continue, as far as possible and as deemed appropriate, to deliver its service to Holywood and district and in particular to further its current projects and support its activity member groups.

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION TO THE EXAMINER

We, the directors of the company who held office at the date of approval of the Financial Statements as set out below and confirm, so far as we are aware, that:

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In approving the Trustees' Annual Report, we also approve the strategic indications included therein, in our capacity as company directors.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Directors would like to thank all those who helped them in all their various endeavours.

The activities reported above could not have been done without their assistance, and with the support of the local community and businesses.

On behalf of the board

Date: 22 January 2025

Rachel Woods

Chair of Holywood Shared Town Board of Directors

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